Windows 7 & Firewire Drive problem.

[philbagg]

I'm running Windows 7 Enterprise 32bit at the moment, and it's not picking up my 320gb WD Passport firewire drive.

Well, it shows up in "Devices and Printers" and the "Safely Remove Hardware" button in the System Tray, yet not only can I not access the drive from Windows Explorer, but if I even try to open My Computer while the drive is attached, the computer freezes and I have to reboot.

(While writing this thread I got a blue screen of death and had to reboot)

The drive worked fine when I had windows XP on the old motherboard. Then, we got a new motherboard (didn't have to reinstall XP), and the drive didn't work anymore. I've installed Windows 7 and the drive still won't work properly. It works on my Mac (although I've had my fair share of problems with that), and this isn't the first drive I've had problems with on Windows 7.

I downloaded the drivers from the WD site:

"WD Drive Manager" - Installed

"WD My Book/Passport Studio FireWire driver (SAM)" - can't seem to install.

WD Downloads site

The SAM driver Zip file contained two folders: "x64" and "x86", and they both contain the same files: "wdcsam.cat", "wdcsam.inf", and "wdcsam.sys". I'm sure I should be using the x86 ones (32bit), but I've no idea how to use them.

I've tried hooking the drive up while the computer's up and running, and I've tried hooking it up before I turn the computer on. Each have brought their own problems, and it's really frustrating

Any ideas?

PS: I don't know if it's of any importance, but the drive is split into two partitions: 100gb HFS+, and 220gb FAT32.

 

[witzendoz]

Try going to control panel > install new hardware.

See if it sees the drive there then install it. Just a chance it might sort itself out.

Alan.

 

[r1chard]

I'm running Windows 7 Enterprise 32bit at the moment, and it's not picking up my 320gb WD Passport firewire drive.

The drive worked fine when I had windows XP on the old motherboard. Then, we got a new motherboard (didn't have to reinstall XP), and the drive didn't work anymore.
Just so you know, unless the new motherboard was completely identical, it would be and unsupported configuration at microsoft. Probably a good thing you reinstalled.

I've installed Windows 7 and the drive still won't work properly. It works on my Mac (although I've had my fair share of problems with that), and this isn't the first drive I've had problems with on Windows 7.

PS: I don't know if it's of any importance, but the drive is split into two partitions: 100gb HFS+, and 220gb FAT32.

It is recommended that you do not hot swap drives on firewire. It could be your firewire interface is damaged. If you think you have all the software right and it is a fresh install of win7 I would consider looking down the hardware side of things, like the new motherboard. That being said, you could create another partition, reinstall xp and see if you can get it to work again. Did you look on the motherboards website for firewire firmware or bios updates? That could cause and issue. If there is no hardware problem then you have to go back to drivers. Do you have another firewire device to check with that could be helpful. Good luck. I hate those kind of issues, don't see them very often but when I do it is usually a hardware issue.

The partitions should not matter, you still should be able to see the drive in disk manager, did you check there to see if you can see the drive? Right click your computer, manage, disk management.

 

[witzendoz]

I just remembered something that happened to me when I reinstalled windows, I bet that the firewire driver is not installed, you may find that the USB driver is not installed as well.

Check the driver list in windows, there may be a whole lot of drivers not installed. You get a ? Icon next to them in the list.

Cheers
Alan.

 

[philbagg]

I just remembered something that happened to me when I reinstalled windows, I bet that the firewire driver is not installed, you may find that the USB driver is not installed as well.

Check the driver list in windows, there may be a whole lot of drivers not installed. You get a ? Icon next to them in the list.

Cheers
Alan.

According to the Device Manager, the Firewire drivers are installed

 

[The Ghost of FM]

According to the Device Manager, the Firewire drivers are installed

Have you rebooted since the install of the drivers?

Many times a driver will show as installed but the registry hasn't been updated properly until you reboot.

Cheers!

 

[philbagg]

Have you rebooted since the install of the drivers?

Many times a driver will show as installed but the registry hasn't been updated properly until you reboot.

Cheers!

Yeah I've rebooted quite a few times (mostly not by choice)